Audi Q5 : shrunken SUVs to battle it out in autonomous driving challenge

Ten autonomous 1:8-scale Audi Q5 SUVs will battle it out later this month as part of a student competition to take place in Germany.

Split into 10 teams, computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering students will go head-to-head to find out whose technological know-how will produce the best autonomously piloted model car.

Though Audi is providing teams with the hardware – their own all-electric shrunken-down all-wheel-drive Q5 – students are tasked with developing their own car controlling software that relies on sensor data to interpret live situations.

Able to reach speeds of up to 40km/h, competition organiser Bjorn Giesler says the cars will have to deal with oncoming and intersecting traffic, ‘tricky’ parking situations and suddenly appearing obstacles.

“The measurement sensors in the models have to work just as precisely as those in their big brothers,” Giesler said.

“We are excited to see the innovative solutions the students come up with.”

The inaugural Audi Autonomous Driving Cup is set take place at Audi’s Museum Mobile in Ingolstadt on March 25 and 26, with the winning team scoring themselves 10,000 euros ($13,870).